Al Gore vs. Al Jazeera vs. the Truth

How the ex-veep came by his cable TV windfall remains heavily redacted. As with the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, let's hope both sides lose.

Al Gore sued Al Jazeera, saying it still owes him $65 million from the sale two years ago of Mr. Gore's unwatched liberal cable channel for $500 million. Al Jazeera says it's rightfully holding back monies left in escrow against breaches of contract by Mr. Gore's Current TV when he was still in charge.

What breaches? We don't know because the lawsuit has been sealed, not unusual in cable disputes. But Current TV during its short heyday was known to be constantly flirting with violating minimum viewership requirements under its unusually lucrative contracts with cable operators. Almost as soon as its sale was announced, Al Jazeera found itself in disputes with Time Warner Cable, AT&T and DirecTV, all of which cited "contractual breaches" by the previous owner Current TV.